Scary Nails And Dancing and Memories

It occurred to me yesterday that I am sort of a conservative, mild mannered person who rarely makes a splash in any of the worlds that I inhabit.

And so I told myself, “You know what? Enough is enough. I am tired of always blending into the background. I am tired of my mild-mannered-ness. I am going to show up at my son’s wedding with a splash of panache. I am going to go out and get myself some long and dramatic fingernails!”

And so I did.

What do you think? Just right? Too much? Should they be longer? (You know I always love to get my readers’ opinions!)

I don’t know; I sort of like them myself. I think they suit me pretty well. I think I’m going to keep them!

I am woman, here me ROAR!

While I was doing my dramatic nails, Sarah, Sheri and Meagan were doing the whole pedicure thing.

And when the whole thing was said and done, I did decide to have my nails cut just a tad. I mean really, how can one type Smithellaneous posts while sporting “scary nails?” (Of course, I was kidding about keeping them that long.)

Here’s what I ended up with—my very first acrylic nails ever. Sarah also got French tips, but hers were just painted on.

And here are Sarah, Meagan and me—the Nail Sisters.

After our stint at the nail salon, we took Nathan and Meagan out to eat. Since the restaurant was right across the parking lot from the hotel, we just walked on over. Or skipped, as the case may be.

In the midst of the skipping, I told Nathan and Meagan to stop for a moment so that I could take advantage of a strategically placed ray of sun. You can tell that Meagan is still skipping in her heart.

After dinner, the four of them tried to do that “funny walk” thingie, which created merriment for them and all the many people in the parking lot.

Then it was back to our room to practice our mother/groom dance. I am so not a dancer.

All I can do is giggle.

And treasure the memories.

(P.S. All of the ladies afflicted with food poisoning and/or the flu are back on their feet and doing well. Hooray!)

Verve-y. Elan-y. Sick-ly.

Well, right off the bat, I have to sadly confess to you that I have taken very few pictures so far on this trip. If you promise to forgive me and not be too terribly mad, I promise I will hereby endeavor to do better.

So help me, Nikon.

Some of the few measly pictures I have managed to take fall just a wee bit short of absolutely inspiring. Like this one.

I had fired up my computer camera on the 13-hour trip to Florida and messed around with goofy backgrounds as we went down the road. I can’t say that Sarah and I have ever had our picture taken with a Ferris wheel in the foreground, but hey, we love to live dangerously.

When we arrived in Winter Haven at 10 pm (which is way past my bedtime), we were greeted by this lovely Hampton Inn hotel room. Happily, we got it for a reduced rate because Meagan and Nathan negotiated cheaper rates by reserving a block of rooms for the wedding. My bargain loving soul rejoiced.

And what could be better than a room with a reduced rate than a room with a reduced rate that also sports a fab gift basket!

It was accompanied by this sweet note.

When I opened it and started reading, I found that it was from my son’s future mother-in-law, the wonderfully generous and mega gifted, Sheri Hawley, whom I am blessed to call a dear friend. Sheri writes an excellent blog where (among other things) she’s been writing about the upcoming wedding from her inimitable point of view.

Although Sheri is an energetic, “git-er-done” kind of woman, she was not quite up to her usual form yesterday when we saw her. As it turns out, Sheri, Meagan, one of Meagan’s sisters, and several other women important to the wedding all either contracted the flu or food poisoning and they were all in various stages of misery, from feeling weak, to feeling queasy, to having bouts of vomiting.

As you can imagine, this was not something that was real welcome five days before a wedding since the intensity of Official Wedding Preparation has officially morphed from “fast” to “warp speed.” Thankfully though, Meagan was feeling better this morning (after going to bed at 8 pm last night) and the rest of the crew seems to be feeling a little stronger as well. We continue to pray that they will all recover quickly from whatever has hit them and be able to jump back into the Wedding Week Festivities with their usual verve and elan. Because it’s hard to feel verve-y and elan-y when one is feelin’ sick-ly.

So that’s the scoop from Wedding Planning Central. As I said, I will do my best to take a lot more pictures and share them with all of you who are happily counting down the days with us until the big event.